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Nerval's Lobster writes "Nokia CEO Stephen Elop first took to the stage at Center548 on New York City's West Side, where Microsoft had first unveiled Windows Phone 7 in late 2010, to claim that Nokia was becoming a 'more nimble competitor' thanks to several strategic decisions under his tenure, including the choice of Windows Phone as the company's primary smartphone platform. ... In terms of [the 920's hardware]: the battery is 2000 mAh; the processor is a dual-core Snapdragon S4, which was apparently selected for its energy efficiency; and the aforementioned wireless charging, based on the 'Qi' wireless charging standard. ... Despite the enthusiasm displayed onstage for Windows Phone 8, the new smartphone platform poses something of a conundrum for Nokia. The company invested heavily in Windows Phone 7, all but abandoning its homegrown operating systems — including Symbian, once a dominant player in the mobile arena — in favor of Microsoft’s platform. But those Windows Phone 7 smartphones won't upgrade to Windows Phone 8 software, and nor will they run Windows Phone 8 apps."

Listen, I like the Nokia phones, and that's what I was going to buy. I brought my Ubuntu laptop into the store to check it out, see if it was compatible, but it isn't. You absolutely must have a Windows install, and a virtual machine won't cut it. (This was the quite-new 610, but looking around online shows that the 700 and 900 have the same issue.)

It uses the Zune file system, and nobody but MS has been able to figure out how to mount it. You can't transfer files with Bluetooth. You can't put music on it. You can't sync to anything. It's a completely stand-alone device unless you're running Windows.

from what i've read they will get most of the upgrades and will go to version 7.8

but even then it shouldn't be a big deal to code apps for 8 and 7. happens all the time in the app store where most apps now require iOS 4.x and will have some special iOS 5 features if you have the latest version

Unfortunately, this is simply false. There is a Windows Phone Mac Connector program that allows syncing to the Mac. As a Mac user, I can attest it works great. This of course leaves Linux users in the cold, but it is not a Windows-only solution.

More to the point, there is less and less requirement to sync to a PC at all. Photos auto-sync via Skydrive. Email is all cloud-based. Podcasts are directly synched without requiring a PC to download them. Music comes directly from your Xbox Music Pass. Apps are directly downloaded. Files can be shared via dropbox or Skydrive.

There are obviously still cases where you would like to sync directly with a computer, but they are becoming really infrequent.

Windows Phone 8 has SD card support for transferring any data you please to any platform you please. I'm not sure yet if this means plugging it in via USB will mount the SD card, but that's what Joe Belifore seems to indicate in his interviews. We shall see. Also updates are OTA in WP8. You can also alternatively sync files via SkyDrive which is available cross platform.

Windows Phone 7 isn't Windows only also; a syncing program has been available for OSX for a while.

I was hoping see some decent competition from MSFT to keep Apple on its toes but that is so weak. Why do they insist on that stupid flipping titles? People that I care about? If I want to see what "people that I care about" are doing, I can see notifications in the notifications bar pop up on my iPhone 4S or I can *gasp*, go into my facebook or twitter app instead of cluttering up my homescreen with their faces. Alternatively, I can alway "call" them. I hate the hub concept still and the flipping tiles are likely to give someone an epileptic seizure. It reminds me of some really badly designed website from the late 90's or early 00's.

Get it through your thick skulls MSFT, people like apps and they don't like distractions with flip-flopping tiles on the homescreen. I have to give you credit for trying to be original but give it a rest already. Also, nobody except fanboys like the "hub" concept. Stop trying to oversell your Xbox live and other services on the mobile platform.

BTW. Nice touch on slavishly copying Apple on the screenshot with the power and home button combo.

I'm sorry, I only have my own experience to draw from, from real life. I really wanted to get the Lumia, but I had had enough of missing features with my Walkman, and I didn't want to play that game again.

If I was hallucinating at the time, I apologize. My dream-state, which looked surprisingly like a Best Buy, was unable to mount a Nokia Lumia 610 Windows 7.5 phone to an Ubuntu installation. Now, I was only there for about an hour, dreaming, but the phone and my computer together made it impossible to mount.

Perhaps there are instructions for how to do that. If there are, they aren't online anywhere.

ïMicrosoft's new "strategic partnership" with Nokia is not its first. For a decade the software company has courted and consummated relationships with a variety of companies in mobile and telecom. Here are the ones I can remember:

LG. In February 2009 Microsoft Corp. signed a multiyear agreement for Windows Mobile to be included on devices from LG Electronics Inc. LG would use Windows Mobile as its "primary platform"for smartphones and produce about 50 models running the software.

What happened? LG made a few Windows Mobile devices but with WinMo uncompetitive, they abandoned the platform and moved to Android losing years of market presence and all their profits.

Motorola. In September 2003, Motorola and Microsoft announced an alliance. "Starting with the introduction of the new Motorola MPx200 mobile phone with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, the companies will collaborate on a series of Smartphone and Pocket PC wireless devices designed to create a virtual "remote control" for the Web-centric, work-centric, always-on-the-go mobile professional." In addition, the alliance includes cooperation on joint marketing and wireless developer programs.

What happened? Motorola launched a series of Windows Mobile phones culminating in the Motorola Q "Blackberry killer". As Motorola hit the rocks in profitability new management reached for the Android liferaft. The company now relies exclusively on the Droid franchise.

Palm. In September 2005 Palm and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance to "accelerate the Smartphone market segment with a new device for mobile professionals and businesses. Palm has licensed the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system for an expanded line of Treo Smartphones, the first of which will be available on Verizon Wirelessâ(TM) national wireless broadband network."

What happened? Palm shipped a few Windows Mobile, famously dismissing Appleâ(TM)s potential entry as something "PC guys" could never achieve. A new CEO, a private placement and an acquisition later the company is a division of HP making its own operating system.

Nortel. When Steve Ballmer was famously laughing at the iPhone and saying that he likes the Windows Mobile strategy "a lot" he was sitting next to the then-CEO of Nortel (Mike Zafirovski formerly of Motorola) with whom the company had just closed a strategic deal. "an alliance between Microsoft and Nortel announced in July 2006 â¦ includes three new joint solutions to dramatically improve business communications by breaking down the barriers between voice, e-mail, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing and other forms of communication".

What happened? Nortel declared bankruptcy two years later.

Verizon. In January 2009 "Verizon Wireless has selected Microsoft Corp. to provide portal, local and Internet search as well as mobile advertising services to customers on its devices. The five-year agreement will go into effect in the first half of 2009 when Microsoft Live Search is targeted to be available on new Verizon Wireless feature phones and smartphones." The deal would ensure Bing distribution to all of Verizonâ(TM)s smartphone customers.

What happened? Bing did ship on some devices but in October 2009 Droid came to Verizon.

Ericsson. In September 2000, "Ericsson and Microsoft Corp. today launched Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB. This previously announced joint company will drive the mobile Internet by developing and marketing mobile e-mail solutions for operators. The first solutions are expected to be on the market by the end of the year. The company is part of a broader strategic alliance between Ericsson and Microsoft"

What happened? Ericsson divested itself of the mobile division forming a joint venture which would go on and make more strategic alliances with Microsoft over Windows Mobile culminating in a loss of profits and eventual flight to Android.

Actually it's not just "Similar OS but with more features". WP8 is a completely new OS with completely new API. You need to do everything differently. WP8 uses the WinRT API.
It's like going from pure java android (ndk not allowed) into iOS:

That's a lie. 7.8 gets the new homescreen and that's about it. If wp8 takes off, you can say bye-bye to wp7 development because who in their right mind wastes money devving for a platform with no users. They'll be too busy learning and using the new wp8 APIs. WP7 is done, dude. And if it isn't it'll only be because WP8 flopped.

I appreciate the first post was a bit heavy on the enthusiasm - my guess is an enthusiastic MVP rather than anything more sinister..

Worthless shilling is ugly no matter who does it.

A dual core CPU and a huge battery are pretty great hardware specs.

Yeah...a year ago.

Also a mechanically stabilized sensor mechanism could be very big news

Only by checkbox marketers and the idiots impressed by gimmicks.

buy today, you'll be 10-15% richer by the end of the month

I'm losing more and more respect for you the longer I read your post.

I have a lumia 800 and I'm looking forward to windows 7.8. I don't care that they're not giving me Windows 8

I'm glad you've found a way to cope with being fucked over. The reality is if wp8 takes off development for wp7.x will nosedive as devs will focus on the new APIs and not bother with a platform with no users, e.g., windows phone 7. You got screwed buddy. Good keeping the stiff upper lip about it though. Quixote would be proud.

frustrated by having to sideload, hack and generally tweak Android whenever I use it.

Oh, I get it now. You're trolling. Funny Android moves 1 million units a day to all those "hackers", "sideloaders", and "tweakers". You are an idiot, by the way.

As for Super AMOLED, the downside is the pentile (RGBG as opppsoed to RGB) pixel arrangement which induces fuzziness in text. Displays with this screen contain 1/3 fewer subpixels compared to RGB, but with the same resolution. Lumia 900 is a clear black AMOLED technology with RGB pixels and looks amazing. I haven't seen a 920 obviously, but if it's anything like the 900 it will be gorgeous.

As for other impressive hardware in the 920, you have NFC, wireless charging, advanced optics (floating lens image stabilization), curved glass display, unibody design, super sensitive touchscreen (can touch with normal gloves on or even fingernails), and at 1280x768 on 4.5 inches has a higher pixel density (332) than the S3 (306), OneX (312), and iPhone 4S (326).